A Time Out of Memory
by S. L
In 1981, Gryffindor common room:
"C'mon James, we've Quidditch practice in five minutes!" Sirius' voice rang out through the Gryffindor common room, making everyone around him wince. Someone even threw a pillow at him He was dress in his practice robes with his Cleansweep 200 slung over his shoulders.
Luckily for the poor onlookers James came skipping down the stairs a moment later, otherwise they would have had to sit through Sirius' hollers again.
"Sorry, sorry! I was just getting my broom, no need to get worked up!" James too was dressed in his practice robes, a Shinning Silver Arrow in his hands. His broom was one of his most prized possessions, it was fast sleek and top of the line.
Both Sirius and James were beaters, working together seamlessly. James was also the team captain, and unfortunately he was always late for practice. The new teacher and head of house McGonagal was away threatening to take away the responsibility, but even she knew James was an excellent Quidditch player, and the best on the team. No body could replace him as captain.
"Hurry up!" Sirius said exasperated. The rest of the team had already gone and he had been waiting for ten minutes for James to change. The friend in question merely smiled and followed the Marauder out of the portrait hole.
"Hope McGonagal isn't watching practice again, if she sees I'm late again- I'm in for!" James rambled on, while taking the stairs at a run. "I hope she makes you captain if I'm bagged. That might not be so bad. After all- ohh!" James had just turned the corner to run head long into two unknown people who went sprawling to the floor.
Sirius was no help as usual, he fell back in laughter leaving James to help the two up. "So sorry," he said. "Late for Quidditch practice you know. Guess I wasn't looking where-"
"Harry!" Screeched the girl in a voice to rival Sirius'. She had rather bushy hair and a very stern look that reminded him of McGonagal. "You really should be careful! Besides, I thought you were going to the hospital wing?"
James started at the girl as if she were crazy. For of course she was. "Harry? Sorry, but I'm not Harry. I'm James," he stuck out his hand. "James Potter."
The girl didn't not take the hand, but the red headed boy butted in. "Harry stop joking around. Honestly, I think that box has gone straight to your head. Probably muddled your thoughts." He nodded knowledgeably.
"Er- no really I'm James Potter. Not Harry, James."
The girl lifted a hand to push away his bangs, though James thought this was a little too much. "Hey!" He shouted though neither seemed to be listening.
"It's not Harry, no scar, did you see Ron?" The girl was looking quite frightened now. "Ron did you hear me. He's. Not. Harry!"
The boy, Ron, was looking far more calm about things. He pierced James with a startling look. "Really is this some kind of a joke? If it is I think it's pretty sick. What if Harry were to see you? He goes here you know, and he'd flip out at the sight of you! Whatever you've done I suggest you change back now." He narrowed his eyes. "And you better damn well not be Malfoy with a polyjuice, or I swear-"
"Malfoy?" Sirius recovered enough to help his friend out. "There was a Lucius Malfoy who left last year, a real prick he was. Slytherns too."
All color drained out of the pair's faces. The girl was the first to talk. "Sorry, but what's the date, and where are we?"
Sirius looked at her as if she was quite mad, but obliged anyways. "Well, you're in Hogwarts and the date is September fifth 1981." He smiled brightly. The girl fainted. Ron looked sick.
"I think we just found out what that box did."
~
Harry awoke to find himself still sitting on his trunk in the sixth year's boy's dormitory, the box clutched in his left hand. Something wasn't right though. His trunk was not at the end of his bed, but in the center of the room, and nothing in that room looked familiar. There were only four beds, to begin with. One of which was occupied by a rather plump, rather loud sleeping boy. No one he recognized.
Wanting to be rid of the box immediately he shoved it in his trunk and removed his invisibility cloak. He couldn't be too careful after all. Then he slammed his trunk shut, locked it, and slid it under the nearest bed.
He walked around the room for a few minutes, looked at the window, and even into the common room. There was no doubt about it, he was in Gryffindor Tower, but not the way he was used to seeing it.
What he say next nearly made his heart stop beating. A perfectly normal calendar lay open on someone's bed. The week of September the eighth was lay open with the full moon on September the ninth circled. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the calendar save one thing. The year at the top read 1981!
That's what the box had done! It had sent him back in time, twenty years! No wonder his dorm looked all different! Though his heart had stopped a moment before, now it was beating twice as fast as ever. He took of out of the dorm and out of the common room at a dead run. Headed for the Headmaster's office, the invisibility cloak was still tucked away in his pocket safely.
~
James watched as the girl fell to the ground with an open mouthed expression.
Ron looked up and started at James, not even looking at the girl. "Sorry about that mate. You just look so much like our friend Harry, that.. Well you see, some... people have been playing these tricks on Harry... um... dressing up like him, using the polyjuice and all that and we were just worried is all. No harm done I hope?"
James had just been through some very peculiar moments, but he nodded anyhow. He supposed it made sense.
"I'm Ron Wes... Westley, and the girl on the floor is Hermoine Grancer. Transfer students, we weren't supposed to arrive for another month, so you can see why she's so startled." She winked at Sirius. "Likes promptness and rules and is probably going crazy because she'll miss the Transfiguration test we had scheduled today."
Not missing a beat Sirius took the initiative. "I'm Sirius Black and that oaf there who seems to have lost his voice is James Potter. Though you already know that."
Ron took the offered hand and smiled uneasily. He seemed to be doing some quick calculations. Luckily before they could break apart Hermoine woke.
"Ron?" She said weakly. "What kind of a bloody idiot are you? You can't even catch me before I fall to the floor? Now I've got a killer headache." She rubbed her temples gratefully. "Some friend you are."
Sirius smiled at Ron, his eyes were twinkling dangerously. "Demanding thing isn't she?"
"Shove it will you?" She shouted, trying to rise from the floor. "I've had about all I can stand today, and I will not be held responsible for my actions if just one more comment comes from your mouth!"
Looking quite excited Sirius snapped his mouth shut and smiled at James. "Well, look at that," James said in a tone of amazement. "Someone finally got the idiot to shut up."
The comment rewarded James a swipe from Sirius which he dodged. James turned back to the newcomers. "Anyways, sorry about all that and-"
Neither of the two seemed to be paying attention to him. They both were looking over his shoulder in an urgent sort of way. Hermoine even pushed him out of the way.
The reason came in the form of a black haired boy with glasses who looked extraordinarily like James. For his part the boy didn't even seem to notice James or Sirius. He immediately started talking to Ron and Hermoine, not even acknowledging them.
"Dumbledore knew! That's why he wouldn't touch the bloody box! I've worked it all out. I touched the box, you, Ron-"
"And Snuffles!" Ron added astonished. "Where was he when you last saw him? I don't think he'll realize as quickly as us."
The boy shook his head. "He was on his way to the headmaster's office last I saw, but by the time the box took effect, he could have been done with his meeting. I dunno where he'd be then. So it wasn't from him after all it was from Dumbledore! I wonder why though? I mean I knew he was hiding something when I went to go and see him, you know the way he gets, like in our first year.. so anyways he was just like that, he knew!" The words tumbled out of the boy's mouth very fast. James started at him in wonder.
Hermoine recovered first, by grabbing the boy's arm. "Harry I want you to meet our new friends," she spoke through gritted teeth, as if regretting the introduction. "Sirius Black and... James Potter. This is my cousin, Harry... Grancer."
Harry turned around to face the two for the first time, and it was quite easy to see that he was very shaken. All the color drained out of his face, and he stared blankly at the two before fainting away on the spot to land in a heap on the stone floor.
Hermoine and Ron exchanged looks.
"You wake him," Hermoine said.
"No you."
"Nuh uh, you do it."
"I did it last time."
"So, I do it all the time."
"I was in the hospital wing for a week!"
"You went about it all wrong, besides he said he was sorry."
"If I'm doing it all wrong then you do it."
"No!"
"Hermoine..."
"Stop whining Ron and just wake him!"
James cleared his throat to catch their attention. "Excuse me, but if it's such a hard decision, I'll wake him."
This startled the two even more so.
"Nope, we've it all under control," Hermoine said.
"Yeah, we were just about to fix things ourselves, no need to bother yourself," said Ron.
Something was up, James thought.
Looking worried, Hermoine pulled out her wand. "You know what, I think we'd better just take him this way. To see Dumbledore you know."
Apparently Ron thought this was a brilliant idea. "Of course that's what we were going to do! See Dumbledore!" Then his brow furrowed. "Is Dumbledore here Hermoine?"
This idea had apparently not struck Hermoine, she too looked worried so Sirius decided to take action.
"Of course Dumbledore's here. We'll show you to his office won't we James?"
"We will?" James said. He was interested in knowing where theses guys came from, but McGonagal... "McGonagal will have a fit if we're late again."
"McGonagal?" Squeaked Hermoine. "She's here?"
James' best friend turned on Hermoine. "Unfortunately. We weren't able to get rid of her. She's head of our house, and tends to get- er... angry when we're late for Quidditch practice. Dunno why."
"Don't worry about us though," James put in. "We'll just take you up to the headmaster and tell her we were helping out the new students. Here it's only a couple minutes away."
Then James began walking away towards the gargoyle with Sirius, Ron, Hermoine and a floating Harry in tow. Indeed it didn't take long to find the office, but getting in was another matter.
"Chocolate Frogs!" Was Sirius' input.
"Cockroach Clusters!" Said Ron.
"Pumpkin Pasty!" James guessed.
Hermoine, however, thought about her guess for a moment before finally shouting out, "Lemon Drop!"
The gargoyle snapped away in an instant. The boys looked at her.
"Remember Harry saying something..." she muttered as she strode past them with a floating Harry. The boys followed her in.
As they neared Dumbledore's office door, voice could be heard.
"This isn't possible... can't be happening...no way..." One unfamiliar voice was saying.
Then Dumbledore's voice answered. "Really, you must calm down and tell me all about it. I think I must know why you suddenly appeared in my office a moment ago. You must forgive me, for wanting to know, but it is very peculiar."
Ron burst through the door without a word. "Snuffles, calm down please!"
James was standing at the end of the group and it therefore took him the longest to get in. He was met with a strange scene. Both Ron and Hermoine seemed to be comforting a tall man with brown hair, who's head was in his hands. Sirius stood in front of them looking out of place and Dumbledore was walking around Harry and marveling.
"A relative of yours Mr. Potter?" He said at last.
This got the strange man's attention. "Potter?" He said weakly looking at James as if he was a ghost. "Oh god, this can't be happening. This isn't real. It's impossible."
Hermoine led him to the couch and hugged him around the shoulders. "Shh Snuffles. I know... that's why Harry fainted. Just calm down. It is unbelievable, but it is real. It was the box. Remember?"
The man ran his finger's through his hair, revealing a tired looking face with bright blue eyes. "I know Hermoine, it's just a little too much to take in all at once... I mean..." He looked up and pierced James with those blue eyes. "How's Harry?" He broke the contact and strode to the floating boy.
"Er- about that Snuffles," Ron began. "He sort of fainted and neither one of us could bring ourselves to wake him up..."
The man stepped back. "Yes well... I think I'll stay out of this. Perhaps he'd better wake up on his own... Yes that will do."
"Now that things have calmed down, would someone like to explain things to me?" Dumbledore said patiently. No one was paying attention to him however. The three newcomers were glaring at James and Sirius in such a way that he knew they were unwelcome.
"Right then- Sirius and I are late for practice, we'd really best be going," James tugged on Sirius's sleeve.
The other boy snorted. "I don't wanna go Prongs, this is just getting good... Besides-" He didn't have a chance to finish as James yanked his friend from the office with a hasty goodbye.
"Sirius they obviously wanted us gone, but that was awfully strange..." James said while they were running to a now very late practice. "Besides we're going to get a detention."
"When has that stopped us before old friend?" Said Sirius panting. "I really- oh dear-" He pushed James' hastily into an empty classroom and slammed the door.
Feeling quite angered, James picked himself up, righted his glasses and leaned his ear against the door.
"How lovely to see you Lady Lily. It's a wonderful day isn't it? What brings such a fair maiden around these parts?" Sirius said comically.
A steady voice answered, the tricks James had played on her had worn off after two days. She was now madder than ever, and he was careful to stay out of her way until she calmed down a little more.
"Shut up Black. I'm in no mood for your ridiculous flattery. Where's your stupid friend Potter?"
Sirius answered in a laughing tone. "That is for me to know and you to guess."
"Well," Evans said in a tone that one might use when speaking to a child. "My guess is that Potter was the one you just shoved in that classroom there, oh so hastily. Hope he got a nasty bruise too."
There was a sound of a little scuffle then the door opened and James was met by the face of a very pleased looking Evans. Sirius was lying face down on the ground with Emily sitting happily on his back filing her nails. Sirius looked absolutely delighted. Emily must have snuck up on him, he decided.
James smiled, thinking fast. "Why Evans, what a pleasant surprise. I don't believe I was expecting you. I'm a bit busy at the moment, but perhaps you'll visit me later then.. alright bye now!" He smiled again and reached for the door to pull it shut again.
With a smile on her face Evans placed her foot behind the door so he could not move it and whipped her wand out. She looked as if Christmas had come early.
"Oh, not so fast Potter. I'm going to enjoy this... You see- ahh!"
Sirius, late as usual, but still helpful as always, had recovered a hand from Emily and had used it to yank the feet from beneath Evans.
"Get lost Prongs!" He yelled happily, while wrestling to keep a struggling Evans and a very angry Emily to the ground.
"Thanks Padfoot!" James yelled back and took off down the corridor with his broom.
"I- HATE... YOU-stop it- POTTER!" Lily roared, sounding very distracted.
"Love you too Evans!" Was his answer as he rounded the corner.
Thank you to:
~Mel
~starkitty
~SArah
~KittyKat
by S. L
In 1981, Gryffindor common room:
"C'mon James, we've Quidditch practice in five minutes!" Sirius' voice rang out through the Gryffindor common room, making everyone around him wince. Someone even threw a pillow at him He was dress in his practice robes with his Cleansweep 200 slung over his shoulders.
Luckily for the poor onlookers James came skipping down the stairs a moment later, otherwise they would have had to sit through Sirius' hollers again.
"Sorry, sorry! I was just getting my broom, no need to get worked up!" James too was dressed in his practice robes, a Shinning Silver Arrow in his hands. His broom was one of his most prized possessions, it was fast sleek and top of the line.
Both Sirius and James were beaters, working together seamlessly. James was also the team captain, and unfortunately he was always late for practice. The new teacher and head of house McGonagal was away threatening to take away the responsibility, but even she knew James was an excellent Quidditch player, and the best on the team. No body could replace him as captain.
"Hurry up!" Sirius said exasperated. The rest of the team had already gone and he had been waiting for ten minutes for James to change. The friend in question merely smiled and followed the Marauder out of the portrait hole.
"Hope McGonagal isn't watching practice again, if she sees I'm late again- I'm in for!" James rambled on, while taking the stairs at a run. "I hope she makes you captain if I'm bagged. That might not be so bad. After all- ohh!" James had just turned the corner to run head long into two unknown people who went sprawling to the floor.
Sirius was no help as usual, he fell back in laughter leaving James to help the two up. "So sorry," he said. "Late for Quidditch practice you know. Guess I wasn't looking where-"
"Harry!" Screeched the girl in a voice to rival Sirius'. She had rather bushy hair and a very stern look that reminded him of McGonagal. "You really should be careful! Besides, I thought you were going to the hospital wing?"
James started at the girl as if she were crazy. For of course she was. "Harry? Sorry, but I'm not Harry. I'm James," he stuck out his hand. "James Potter."
The girl didn't not take the hand, but the red headed boy butted in. "Harry stop joking around. Honestly, I think that box has gone straight to your head. Probably muddled your thoughts." He nodded knowledgeably.
"Er- no really I'm James Potter. Not Harry, James."
The girl lifted a hand to push away his bangs, though James thought this was a little too much. "Hey!" He shouted though neither seemed to be listening.
"It's not Harry, no scar, did you see Ron?" The girl was looking quite frightened now. "Ron did you hear me. He's. Not. Harry!"
The boy, Ron, was looking far more calm about things. He pierced James with a startling look. "Really is this some kind of a joke? If it is I think it's pretty sick. What if Harry were to see you? He goes here you know, and he'd flip out at the sight of you! Whatever you've done I suggest you change back now." He narrowed his eyes. "And you better damn well not be Malfoy with a polyjuice, or I swear-"
"Malfoy?" Sirius recovered enough to help his friend out. "There was a Lucius Malfoy who left last year, a real prick he was. Slytherns too."
All color drained out of the pair's faces. The girl was the first to talk. "Sorry, but what's the date, and where are we?"
Sirius looked at her as if she was quite mad, but obliged anyways. "Well, you're in Hogwarts and the date is September fifth 1981." He smiled brightly. The girl fainted. Ron looked sick.
"I think we just found out what that box did."
~
Harry awoke to find himself still sitting on his trunk in the sixth year's boy's dormitory, the box clutched in his left hand. Something wasn't right though. His trunk was not at the end of his bed, but in the center of the room, and nothing in that room looked familiar. There were only four beds, to begin with. One of which was occupied by a rather plump, rather loud sleeping boy. No one he recognized.
Wanting to be rid of the box immediately he shoved it in his trunk and removed his invisibility cloak. He couldn't be too careful after all. Then he slammed his trunk shut, locked it, and slid it under the nearest bed.
He walked around the room for a few minutes, looked at the window, and even into the common room. There was no doubt about it, he was in Gryffindor Tower, but not the way he was used to seeing it.
What he say next nearly made his heart stop beating. A perfectly normal calendar lay open on someone's bed. The week of September the eighth was lay open with the full moon on September the ninth circled. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the calendar save one thing. The year at the top read 1981!
That's what the box had done! It had sent him back in time, twenty years! No wonder his dorm looked all different! Though his heart had stopped a moment before, now it was beating twice as fast as ever. He took of out of the dorm and out of the common room at a dead run. Headed for the Headmaster's office, the invisibility cloak was still tucked away in his pocket safely.
~
James watched as the girl fell to the ground with an open mouthed expression.
Ron looked up and started at James, not even looking at the girl. "Sorry about that mate. You just look so much like our friend Harry, that.. Well you see, some... people have been playing these tricks on Harry... um... dressing up like him, using the polyjuice and all that and we were just worried is all. No harm done I hope?"
James had just been through some very peculiar moments, but he nodded anyhow. He supposed it made sense.
"I'm Ron Wes... Westley, and the girl on the floor is Hermoine Grancer. Transfer students, we weren't supposed to arrive for another month, so you can see why she's so startled." She winked at Sirius. "Likes promptness and rules and is probably going crazy because she'll miss the Transfiguration test we had scheduled today."
Not missing a beat Sirius took the initiative. "I'm Sirius Black and that oaf there who seems to have lost his voice is James Potter. Though you already know that."
Ron took the offered hand and smiled uneasily. He seemed to be doing some quick calculations. Luckily before they could break apart Hermoine woke.
"Ron?" She said weakly. "What kind of a bloody idiot are you? You can't even catch me before I fall to the floor? Now I've got a killer headache." She rubbed her temples gratefully. "Some friend you are."
Sirius smiled at Ron, his eyes were twinkling dangerously. "Demanding thing isn't she?"
"Shove it will you?" She shouted, trying to rise from the floor. "I've had about all I can stand today, and I will not be held responsible for my actions if just one more comment comes from your mouth!"
Looking quite excited Sirius snapped his mouth shut and smiled at James. "Well, look at that," James said in a tone of amazement. "Someone finally got the idiot to shut up."
The comment rewarded James a swipe from Sirius which he dodged. James turned back to the newcomers. "Anyways, sorry about all that and-"
Neither of the two seemed to be paying attention to him. They both were looking over his shoulder in an urgent sort of way. Hermoine even pushed him out of the way.
The reason came in the form of a black haired boy with glasses who looked extraordinarily like James. For his part the boy didn't even seem to notice James or Sirius. He immediately started talking to Ron and Hermoine, not even acknowledging them.
"Dumbledore knew! That's why he wouldn't touch the bloody box! I've worked it all out. I touched the box, you, Ron-"
"And Snuffles!" Ron added astonished. "Where was he when you last saw him? I don't think he'll realize as quickly as us."
The boy shook his head. "He was on his way to the headmaster's office last I saw, but by the time the box took effect, he could have been done with his meeting. I dunno where he'd be then. So it wasn't from him after all it was from Dumbledore! I wonder why though? I mean I knew he was hiding something when I went to go and see him, you know the way he gets, like in our first year.. so anyways he was just like that, he knew!" The words tumbled out of the boy's mouth very fast. James started at him in wonder.
Hermoine recovered first, by grabbing the boy's arm. "Harry I want you to meet our new friends," she spoke through gritted teeth, as if regretting the introduction. "Sirius Black and... James Potter. This is my cousin, Harry... Grancer."
Harry turned around to face the two for the first time, and it was quite easy to see that he was very shaken. All the color drained out of his face, and he stared blankly at the two before fainting away on the spot to land in a heap on the stone floor.
Hermoine and Ron exchanged looks.
"You wake him," Hermoine said.
"No you."
"Nuh uh, you do it."
"I did it last time."
"So, I do it all the time."
"I was in the hospital wing for a week!"
"You went about it all wrong, besides he said he was sorry."
"If I'm doing it all wrong then you do it."
"No!"
"Hermoine..."
"Stop whining Ron and just wake him!"
James cleared his throat to catch their attention. "Excuse me, but if it's such a hard decision, I'll wake him."
This startled the two even more so.
"Nope, we've it all under control," Hermoine said.
"Yeah, we were just about to fix things ourselves, no need to bother yourself," said Ron.
Something was up, James thought.
Looking worried, Hermoine pulled out her wand. "You know what, I think we'd better just take him this way. To see Dumbledore you know."
Apparently Ron thought this was a brilliant idea. "Of course that's what we were going to do! See Dumbledore!" Then his brow furrowed. "Is Dumbledore here Hermoine?"
This idea had apparently not struck Hermoine, she too looked worried so Sirius decided to take action.
"Of course Dumbledore's here. We'll show you to his office won't we James?"
"We will?" James said. He was interested in knowing where theses guys came from, but McGonagal... "McGonagal will have a fit if we're late again."
"McGonagal?" Squeaked Hermoine. "She's here?"
James' best friend turned on Hermoine. "Unfortunately. We weren't able to get rid of her. She's head of our house, and tends to get- er... angry when we're late for Quidditch practice. Dunno why."
"Don't worry about us though," James put in. "We'll just take you up to the headmaster and tell her we were helping out the new students. Here it's only a couple minutes away."
Then James began walking away towards the gargoyle with Sirius, Ron, Hermoine and a floating Harry in tow. Indeed it didn't take long to find the office, but getting in was another matter.
"Chocolate Frogs!" Was Sirius' input.
"Cockroach Clusters!" Said Ron.
"Pumpkin Pasty!" James guessed.
Hermoine, however, thought about her guess for a moment before finally shouting out, "Lemon Drop!"
The gargoyle snapped away in an instant. The boys looked at her.
"Remember Harry saying something..." she muttered as she strode past them with a floating Harry. The boys followed her in.
As they neared Dumbledore's office door, voice could be heard.
"This isn't possible... can't be happening...no way..." One unfamiliar voice was saying.
Then Dumbledore's voice answered. "Really, you must calm down and tell me all about it. I think I must know why you suddenly appeared in my office a moment ago. You must forgive me, for wanting to know, but it is very peculiar."
Ron burst through the door without a word. "Snuffles, calm down please!"
James was standing at the end of the group and it therefore took him the longest to get in. He was met with a strange scene. Both Ron and Hermoine seemed to be comforting a tall man with brown hair, who's head was in his hands. Sirius stood in front of them looking out of place and Dumbledore was walking around Harry and marveling.
"A relative of yours Mr. Potter?" He said at last.
This got the strange man's attention. "Potter?" He said weakly looking at James as if he was a ghost. "Oh god, this can't be happening. This isn't real. It's impossible."
Hermoine led him to the couch and hugged him around the shoulders. "Shh Snuffles. I know... that's why Harry fainted. Just calm down. It is unbelievable, but it is real. It was the box. Remember?"
The man ran his finger's through his hair, revealing a tired looking face with bright blue eyes. "I know Hermoine, it's just a little too much to take in all at once... I mean..." He looked up and pierced James with those blue eyes. "How's Harry?" He broke the contact and strode to the floating boy.
"Er- about that Snuffles," Ron began. "He sort of fainted and neither one of us could bring ourselves to wake him up..."
The man stepped back. "Yes well... I think I'll stay out of this. Perhaps he'd better wake up on his own... Yes that will do."
"Now that things have calmed down, would someone like to explain things to me?" Dumbledore said patiently. No one was paying attention to him however. The three newcomers were glaring at James and Sirius in such a way that he knew they were unwelcome.
"Right then- Sirius and I are late for practice, we'd really best be going," James tugged on Sirius's sleeve.
The other boy snorted. "I don't wanna go Prongs, this is just getting good... Besides-" He didn't have a chance to finish as James yanked his friend from the office with a hasty goodbye.
"Sirius they obviously wanted us gone, but that was awfully strange..." James said while they were running to a now very late practice. "Besides we're going to get a detention."
"When has that stopped us before old friend?" Said Sirius panting. "I really- oh dear-" He pushed James' hastily into an empty classroom and slammed the door.
Feeling quite angered, James picked himself up, righted his glasses and leaned his ear against the door.
"How lovely to see you Lady Lily. It's a wonderful day isn't it? What brings such a fair maiden around these parts?" Sirius said comically.
A steady voice answered, the tricks James had played on her had worn off after two days. She was now madder than ever, and he was careful to stay out of her way until she calmed down a little more.
"Shut up Black. I'm in no mood for your ridiculous flattery. Where's your stupid friend Potter?"
Sirius answered in a laughing tone. "That is for me to know and you to guess."
"Well," Evans said in a tone that one might use when speaking to a child. "My guess is that Potter was the one you just shoved in that classroom there, oh so hastily. Hope he got a nasty bruise too."
There was a sound of a little scuffle then the door opened and James was met by the face of a very pleased looking Evans. Sirius was lying face down on the ground with Emily sitting happily on his back filing her nails. Sirius looked absolutely delighted. Emily must have snuck up on him, he decided.
James smiled, thinking fast. "Why Evans, what a pleasant surprise. I don't believe I was expecting you. I'm a bit busy at the moment, but perhaps you'll visit me later then.. alright bye now!" He smiled again and reached for the door to pull it shut again.
With a smile on her face Evans placed her foot behind the door so he could not move it and whipped her wand out. She looked as if Christmas had come early.
"Oh, not so fast Potter. I'm going to enjoy this... You see- ahh!"
Sirius, late as usual, but still helpful as always, had recovered a hand from Emily and had used it to yank the feet from beneath Evans.
"Get lost Prongs!" He yelled happily, while wrestling to keep a struggling Evans and a very angry Emily to the ground.
"Thanks Padfoot!" James yelled back and took off down the corridor with his broom.
"I- HATE... YOU-stop it- POTTER!" Lily roared, sounding very distracted.
"Love you too Evans!" Was his answer as he rounded the corner.
Thank you to:
~Mel
~starkitty
~SArah
~KittyKat